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Trump will talk to Putin soon as Russia flags possible contact with US in coming days

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Trump will talk to Putin soon as Russia flags possible contact with US in coming days
Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 06, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Russia said on March 11 it may engage in talks with the United States in the coming days, following U.S. President Donald Trump's statement that he might speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.

"We do not rule out contacts with U.S. representatives within the next few days," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state news agencies.

After Kyiv signaled its willingness to accept Washington's proposal for an immediate, temporary 30-day ceasefire, extendable by mutual agreement, Trump emphasized the need to engage with Russia, expressing hope that Putin would also agree and that negotiations could move forward.

"It takes two for tango, as I have already said, so I hope he (Putin) will also agree as well, and I really think that would be 75% of the way, the rest is getting it documented," Trump said. "We will have a big meeting with Russia tomorrow."

"Ukraine has agreed to it, and hopefully Russia will agree to it. We're going to meet with them later on, today and tomorrow, and hopefully, we'll be able to wipe out a deal. But I think the ceasefire is very important. If we can get Russia to do it, that'll be great. If we can't, we just keep going on, and people are going to get killed, lots of people," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Cease-fire negotiations gained fresh momentum during talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after previously stalling following a heated confrontation between the Ukrainian and U.S. presidents at the White House.

In the wake of that tense exchange, the Trump administration had halted all military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

The joint statement issued on March 11 marked a significant development, coming just hours after Russian officials reported that Ukrainian drones had launched the largest attack on Moscow since the war began.

The United States agreed to lift the pause on intelligence sharing and resume security assistance to Ukraine, Ukraine's Presidential Office announced following the meetings.

Macron rallies Europe to back Ukraine following ceasefire talks, Le Monde reports
Speaking at a closed-door meeting in Paris on March 11, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said his country “will reject any form of demilitarisation of Ukraine.”
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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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